Conservation of nature is as important for human happiness and well-being as financial security

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I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery — air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”

— Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

There is growing evidence that exposure to nature, particularly for those who live in urban areas, is essential to human happiness and well-being. But what precisely is it about nature that is essential for happiness: is it the presence of trees? proximity to a body of…

Sudden changes in bird songs and plumage colors provides female songbirds with mate choices that can rapidly lead to establishment of new species in closely related birds — a finding that challenges the typical model of how new species form

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Speciation — the process underlying how one species becomes two — is a poorly understood but critically important evolutionary process that creates and defines all living things. My enduring passion to understand this seemingly straightforward mechanism is certainly what lured me into a career in science. …

Some birds may develop unique behaviors to deal with extreme heat created by global warming

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Global climate change is giving rise to a variety of rapid and diverse impacts, including shifts in growing seasons, food sources and species distributions and, as we all can attest, extreme climate events are becoming ever more common and harmful.

Even with all our modern technologies, people — especially residents of urban areas — are barely coping with this onslaught of severe heat, but what about animals? How do they cope? Many animals decrease their activity…

Exotic pets — companion animals that are not native to the area where they are kept — can become invasive pests when they escape or are released by pet owners, breeders, collectors and wholesalers

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It’s no secret that the global market for exotic pets is large and growing, particularly recently, because so many of us stayed home for the past year to comply with the coronavirus pandemic quarantine restrictions.

In the last decade alone, billions of individuals comprising thousands of animal species were traded annually, fueling a multibillion-dollar global industry (i.e…

Although ‘fake news’ and misinformation are big problems for human society and addressing it is a big challenge, the same ‘fake news’ misinformation tactics can be used to trick invasive predators into ignoring a meal

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Invasive predators, particularly feral and free-roaming house cats, can be found almost everywhere that people have ever visited or now live, and they are killing one species after another, causing many to become endangered or even extinct (i.e.; see here). At the same time, the public overwhelmingly wants to protect feral and free-roaming cats from lethal…

But surprisingly, only half of all birders have ever heard of certified Bird-Friendly coffees

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A little more than one year ago, a study reported that North America lost 3 billion birds in less than 50 years (more here). One of the foremost reasons for this dramatic decline in birds was habitat destruction due to human activities such as logging, farming and mining. …

An extinct and previously unknown species of goose has been identified from an ancient Egyptian painting that once adorned the walls of a mastaba, or tomb, according to a recently published analysis. This mudbrick tomb was the final resting place of Nefermaat, a prince in Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty (c. 2600 BCE), and his wife, Itet (Figure 1).

The oldest son of king Sneferu, Nefermaat ruled Egypt from 2610 to 2590 B.C. …

The Guam kingfisher has been extinct in the wild for more than 30 years but thanks to intense conservation efforts, it now stands on the brink of being released back into the wild

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NOTE: Originally published under the title: “Extinct Guam Kingfisher Provides Blueprint For Reintroducing Other Long-Lost Animals”

The Guam kingfisher, or ‘sihek’ as it’s known by the Chamorros, the indigenous people living on Guam, is becoming a symbol of conservation hope these days. …